Monthly Archives: November 2011

Forensic Image and Video Analysis: The complete workflow.

Amped Software is a pretty young company, but we have had the opportunity to work on almost 400 cases. We are mostly focused on software development, but from time to time, we are asked to work as expert witnesses for some major cases or we are asked by our customers to help them by evaluating (more or less informally) their material and providing some consultation.  These external cases have allowed us to see that there are steps that are commonly missed and others that are rarely taken into account in practical forensic video analysis.

Today, speaking to an agency about a potential project, I realized just how broad and complex the complete workflow process is for our (and our users) job.

If we think about all the tasks related to analysis, it can be really overwhelming.  To stay on point, I usually list on paper all the possible steps we need to take to do a really complete analysis.  This way, I can stay organized and minimize the possibility of skipping or missing steps.  Also, if I do have to go to court, I have my outline that serves the basis of my presentation.

We always need to remember that our job doesn’t start and end with viewing and enhancing a video.  It’s more complex: we must ID the data, decode it properly, document the process, compare it with other material, and then go to court.  Since digital data is really just a collection of bits, we outline our process around working with these bits and answering key questions relating to what we need to do with the bits. Continue reading